We want our kids to know that nothing worthwhile comes easy, and what our wrestling team accomplished this season is proof positive of that."

Roosevelt Avenue in Springfield runs north and south in the City of Homes. It begins on Page Boulevard in East Springfield, and ends at Sumner Avenue in the city's East Forest Park neighborhood. All totaled it runs close to five miles from beginning to end, and while it's always been a busy and popular thoroughfare, Roosevelt Avenue has become a very prestigious address because of two high schools and scores of local student athletes.

Separated by a few tenths of a mile, Putnam Vocational and Springfield Central high schools have produced a banner crop of state championship performances this winter. The Central wrestling team won its 10th consecutive Western Mass title, and followed it up with a state team championship, as well as individual state and All-New England championships. Just up the road the Putnam boys basketball team grabbed most of the headlines this winter, finishing an undefeated season, and becoming the first Western Mass basketball team to win two straight Division I state basketball championships when the Beavers defeated Central Catholic last Saturday in Worcester.

"I was elated and relieved all at the same time," said William Sheppard, coach of the Putnam boys basketball team. "We had the talent to win, there's no doubt about that, but what it was really about was all the hard work we did. At our school we've made a point of raising the expectations we put on our kids. We have great leadership, the kids proved they were great leaders, and that's what allowed us to win states again."

"School-wide, all the things we've accomplished have been the fruits of our labor," Putnam principal Gil Traverso said. "We've been able to accomplish so much, and we've done it with class and character. Think about all the challenges our kids have to overcome on a daily basis. Some of these kids come to school in the dark and they arrive home in the dark. And then you think about what the athletes have to go through with school work and their athletic commitments. That says an awful lot about our kids."

The same thoughts and emotions were echoed a few tenths of a mile down Roosevelt Avenue at Central, where the sign in the school's parking lot reads, 'Central High School, Home of Scholars and Champions'. The champions this year included the girls basketball team that upset top seeded Northampton to win Western Mass. Central's storied wrestling program produced its 10th straight Western Mass title, as well as the state championship victories turned in by the Viruet brothers, Ricky and Jon, and by heavyweight wrestler Kam Anderson. Central won the first ever All-State team title, and Jon Viruet went on to win the New England Championship at 160 pounds.

"You can feel the momentum," said Central principal Tad Tokarz. "And it's not necessarily about athletics, it's also about academic achievement. We're constantly preaching about hard work and success, there's a correlation there. Our wrestling team is the hardest- working team in the city. They do so many things when the lights aren't shining on them. We want our kids to know that nothing worthwhile comes easy, and what our wrestling team accomplished this season is proof positive of that, and the rest of the student body takes notice."

And if the laundry list of accomplishments mentioned earlier wasn't impressive enough, along comes Central sophomore Courtney Stewart, who won his second straight state
'Poetry Out Loud' championship at Boston's Old South Meetinghouse earlier this month. Stewart will represent Massachusetts at the national finals in April.

Central sophomore Courtney Stewart won the state 'Poetry Out Loud' competition in Boston earlier this month.

"I think Courtney Stewart is the most impressive competitor in the city," Tokarz said. "He's gone up against 25,000 kids from across the state and come in first two years in a row, and he's just a sophomore. And our ROTC drill team is leaving on Friday to compete in a national competition. And by the way, Isan Diaz, who plays shortstop on our baseball team, he's got an offer to play baseball at Vanderbilt, but he's also projected to get picked in the first five rounds of the MLB draft. He could be playing professional baseball this summer."

From WMass Championships to State and All New England titles, on the athletic field and in the classroom, student athletes from Putnam and Central high schools have represented their respective communities well, and added to a long list of champions who have gone before them.